

iyy 



HOLLINGER 
pH 8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 



E 423 
.S44 
Copy 1 



SPEECH 



HON. J. A. SEDDON, OF YIRGINIA, 



ON THE ACTION OF 



THE*EXECUTrVE IN RELATION TO CALIFORNIA. 



DKHYERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 23, X350. 



^^. 



WASHINGTON : 

ipRINTEO AT THE CONGRESSIONAL, GLOBE OFFIC£. 

1850. 






(^ 



rft.4^ 



PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE-CALIFOMIA. 



The President's Gommuiiication, irt reply to the Resolution 
of Mr. Vejjable calling for information in relation to Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico, being under consideration — 
Mr. SEDDON said: 

Mr. Speaker : The action taken, and the 
course of policy recommended by the Executive 
to be pursued in reference to California and the 
Territories lately acquired from Mexico, as de- 
veloped by the message and documents now on 
your table, are to my mind so strange, start- 
ling, and dangerous, as to demand at the very 
first opportunity, even on the motion to print, ex- 
amination and exposure. 1 should have been bet- 
ter pleased if this duty had been undertaken by 
some member of more weight and reputation, who 
might have commanded in larger measure the 
attention and confidence of the House and the 
country; but since none such seem to have directed 
their special attention to this matter, and to be now 
prepared to expose the character and tendencies 
of that message, I, sir, humble as I am, feel imper- 
atively bound to make the attempt, and to invoke 
the most serious attention of the House and the 
country to them. 

For a clear perception of the action and policy 
of the Executive towards California and our other 
acquisitions, and of their tendencies, it is neces- 
sary to advert to and ascertain the condition of 
those Territories, and especially California, at the 
close of the war with Mexico — the relations ex- 
isting then between them and the United States — 
and the obligations resulting. For brevity, I shall 
for the present refer to California only, though the 
same observations will apply with equal propriety 
to all ourother acquisitions, not belongingto Texas'. 
During the war, California had been subjugated 
by the prowess of the American arms, and was 
held, after all resistance had been quelled, in tran- 
quillity under military domination. By the treaty 
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which restored peace, Cal- 
ifornia was ceded by Mexico in absolute sover- 
eignty to the United Stales, in part for the con- 
sideration of a large sum of money, $18,400,000 — 
much the greater portion of v/hich is yet to be 
paid. By those means, California became a Ter- 
ritory of the United States. The Constitution of 
the United States, as far as applicable, extended 
over it, and became " the supreme law of the land." 
The sovereignty over it was ceded to, and vested 
in the sovereign States of this Confederacy — the 
United States. In them was vested the eminent 
domain, the ultimate proprietorship of the whole. 
Whatever of legislative power could be exercised j 



over territory of the United States, in conformity 
to our Constitution, the rights of the States, and 
the principles of our institutions, appertained to, 
and was vested in the Congress of the United 
States over it. The relations of the Executive of the 
United States, his rights and his duties in respect 
to this territory, were established and existed un- 
der and by virtue of the Constitution of the Uni- 
ted States, and were by it to be ascertained, limit- 
ed, and defined. They were purely Executive, 
and under the Constitution could be neither judicial 
nor legiiSlative. 

At the conclusion of the war, a de facto govern- 
ment existed in California. Until the interposition 
I of the legislative power, according to well estab- 
lished principles of national law, that de facto gov- 
ernment continued from necessity and to avoid 
anarchy, based upon the presumed acquiescence 
as well of the superior legislative body as of the 
people over whom it operated; but in subordina- 
tion, of course, to the Constitution of the United 
States, which had become the supreme law, emd 
to the paramount rights and obligations resulting 
from the new relations of California as a territory 
of the United States. The rights and duties of the 
President of the United States, in reference to that 
government and the territory, were simple and 
clear. They were exclusively executive. Until 
the action of the legislative power, he was bound 
to maintain that de facto government, to see to the 
due execution of its laws, in subordination of 
course to the Constitution, and to preserve peacef 
and good order. Under our Constitution, all the 
executive power granted is vested in the President 
of the United States. Of course, then , the governor 
of the de facto government was his subordinate, 
exercising his powers, responsible to his authority 
and instructions, and removable at his will. No 
greater powers or rights were or could be vested 
in or exercised by him than by the President 
under the Constitution; and his acts, not dis- 
avowed, but either directed, assented to, or ap- 
proved, were the acts of the President. He no 
more than the President, the subordinate no more 
than the superior, could rightfully claim or exer- 
cise either judicial or legislative functions. 

Such, 1 submit with confidence, defined with ac- 
curacy and precision, were the new relations es- 
tablished by the treaty of peace with California, 
the rights and duties of the United States and the 
coordinate departments of its government in ref- 
erence to that territory and its existing govern- 
ment. We are now prepared for the all-important 



^ 



inquiry, to which I invoke earnestly the grave at- 
tention of the House and the country: how far 
the action and policy of the past and present 
Administrations conform to them? 

It is intimated, ratlier than directly expressed 
in the message on your table, that the course and 
policy of both Administrations in this respect have 
been similar — in effect the same; that of the pres- 
ent Administration being only in pursuance and 
further development of the line of policy adopted 
and commenced by the last. This does not ap- 
pear te me to be just or true, and I feel bound so 
to declare. If 1 know myself, Mr. Speaker, I can 
solemnly aver that in the view I take of this whole 
subject, and in the- animadversions which a sense 
of duty constrains me to submit on the course and 
policy of the present Administration, I am influ- 
enced by no feelings or considerations of party — I 
have no animosities against the present Adminis- 
tration to gratify; as my best friends know, no 
feeling of bitterness or hostility, but, on the con- 
trary, sincere respect and kind feeling towards the 
President. At this time particularly, God knows, 
I would allay, not arouse, party acerbities; and 
in the South particularly, would obliterate all dis- 
tinctions between Whigs and Democrats, and band 
all in cordial union and harmonious cooperation in 
steadfast maintenance of our sectional rights, and 
stern resistance of the wrong and insult .menaced 
us. In my view, Mr. Speaker, the subjects of my 
examination soar far above party. They ought to 
be investigated in the liighest spirit of wisdom and 
patriotism we can command. They involve the gra- 
vest constitutional inquiries, and directly affect the 
most essential rights and institutions of the South. 
Although a friend and supporter of the late Ad- 
ministration, I do not, on that account, make the 
distinction I have done between its action and | 
that of the present Administration. Did I believe 
them similar, or the same, I would no more hesi- 
tate to condemn then than now— no more than I 
hesitated decidedly to reprobate the unwarrant- 
able action of the late President in affixing his sig- 
nature to the Oregon bill. Believing, as I sincerely 
do, the action and policy of the present Executive, 
in relation to California, to involve grave viola- 
tions of the Constitution, gross usurpation of 
powers, and to be most insidious and fatal to 
the rights and interests of my section in par- 
iticular, I am bound, in sheer justice, to acquit 
the memory of that eminent constitutional jurist 
and able President, James K. Polk, from the impu- 
tation of originating or sanctioning them. Not 
doubting the distinction to exist, I am bound, by j 
a yet higher consideration of general good to ex- 
hibit it, to prevent the weight, influence and au- 
thority of the late Administration from being 
adduced to aid as a precedent in sustaining and 
establishing an action and policy so unconstitu- 
tional, so wrong, and so hostile to the cause of 
the South. 

So far as appears from the message and corre- 
spondence published in the papers, and which 1 
have been able to see, the sole pretext in reality 
existing for the assumption that the action of 
the present Administration is in pursuance and 
development of the policy of the last, is, that the 
Governor of the de fuclo government was the 
same individual under both Administrations, be- 
ing appointed by the former and continued by the 
present Executive. This certainly does not suf- 



fice. He was, at all times, during the present 
Administration, subject to its authority and in- 
structions, and removable by it. We must look 
to the acts of the two Administrations, and .the 
written authority given to its agents by them. 

That of the past Administration was in stricli 
conformity to all the princijjles which ] have care- 
fully staled as applicable and obligatory. My 
brief hour will not allow me to read the able letter 
of Mr. Buchanan, conveying the views and giving 
j the instructions of the late Administration to its 
[ agent selected to go to California. I can only ask 
j attentive consideration to it. In it, it is distinctly 
! recognized that California had become a territory 
of the United States ; that the sovereignty over it 
had been ceded to, and was vested in the sover- 
eign States of this Confederacy — the United States-/ 
that the Constitution of the United States, as far 
as applicable, extended over it as the supreme law; 
that such legislative power as, conformably to the 
Constitution and our institutions, could be legiti- 
mately exercised, was vested in, and could be 
employed only by the Congress of the United 
States; that, until the intervention of such legis- 
lative power, the de facto government existed, and 
would continue; that the powers of the President 
were purely executive, and confined to the main- 
tenance of that government, the execution of the' 
laws, and the preservation of peace and good 
order. With equal address and ability, Mr, 
Buchanan presents to the people of California the 
privileges they may expect to derive from becom- 
ing annexed to this great and free Confederacy, 
and the brilliant prospects which may be opened 
to them by hereafter becoming Slates and mem- 
bers of so glorious a Union. He enlarges on the 
advantages they may expect to derive from the in- 
troduction of our admirable land system, the rapid 
growth and development which awaited them 
under our fostering care and free institutions. He 
explains to them, too, some of the causes which 
had prevented Congress from extending its legis- 
lative action to them; expresses the hope, that at 
the next session such causes will not longer iai- 
pede;'! and engages, as the Executive was clearly 
entitled, to make to Congress an earnest recom- 
mendation of early and efficient legislation for the 
Territory. In brief, he uses many arguments to 
reconcile the people of California to their new re- 
lations, to the omission of Congress to legislate, 
and to satisfy them with the existing state of things. 
With no less care does he avoid any invitation to 
the people to take independentaction for the adop- 
tion of other forms of government or other insti- 
tutions. He neither assumes, nor invites them t& 
assume, legislative or judicial functions; but urges 
them to await the action of Congress, as possess- 
ing the only legitimate authority to effect those 
ends. He gives no opinion as to the operation of 
Mexican laws over the relations of persons, fur- 
ther than to say: all existing laws are in subordi- 
nation to the Constitution, as the supreme law; but 
leaves all such matters where they rightfully be- 
longed — to the existing judicature. In all this, I 
submit, there is much to commend, nothing to 
condemn. Would that the action of the ]iresent 
Administration had been the same. I should have 
been the first to approve. 

After the example of the former Administration, 
the present likewise sent out a special agent (the 
Hon. Thomas Butler King) to California. In a 



letter from the Secretary of State, Mr. Clayton, to 
him, we have his instructions as far as given in 
writing; and in the special message on your table, 
we have the explanation of the President as to his 
motives and purposes, and an avowal of tlic action 
and results which have followed from his sugges- 
tions. From these authentic sources, I learn the 
action and policy of the President, which I con- 
demn. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. HovvAun] 
on yesterday called attention emphatically to the 
significant intimation in the letter to Mr. King, that 
he was familiar with the views and sentiments of 
the President, and could suggest measures best 
calculated to give them effect. He inferred that 
the most material instructions might have been 
given oially, and that we were to look to the ac- 
tion in California subsequent to the arrival of Mr. 
King, to interpret them. The intimation of the 
letter certainly was indiscreet, for it placed the 
President very much at the mercy of the agent, 
and confided to his mere discretion the representa- 
tion of any views and wishes not inconsistent with 
his written instruction, as those of the President. I 
do not, however, consider it either liberal orjust to 
suppose, that instructions variant from, or in mate- 
rial addition to, those given in writing were im- 
parted orally to Mr. King, especially as the Presi- 
dent, by omitting to stale such in reply to the call 
of the House, impliedly repels the presumption. 
We should take the leiter and the message as the 
only authentic exposition of the instruction and 
action of the President. I confine myself to them, 
and indulge no suspicions. 

I cannot read these documents in full, though 
I must ask particular attention to them. Yet, to 
avoid the possibility of injustice, 1 quote several 
passages, which I intend mainly to refer to. 

In the letter to Mr. King, Mr. Clayton says : 

" You have been selected liy the President to convey to. 
them these assurances ; and es|iecially the assurance ot his 
firm determination, so far us his conslidilinnal power ex- 
tends, to omit nothiiiu tlial may ii ml I'j innmote and secure 
their peace and hii|i|iiir~>. \i,ii i , r jiillij jio&sesscd oj tiie 
President's licics, awl <<iii vUlt i.iniiiii'hi\ii-ne^l to t tie people 
of Cfilif'uriiiathe wkiptiuii "/ i„r,r,rr's 'l,i^l erl:-\ Ir.-i fn .'>,- 
them elfeit. Tliese mcaMU-es mu>f, (irrdin-r. >t::i, :, 

solely with themstlvi's. ..is^vre Ih. m of the -, , ' 

tlieEceeciilive of the L'liilcd St„le<^, to proteit .ir^i .,, i, mi i,.. ,., 
in the Jorvmtwn of ami nun rimfjit . i(|iulilicaii in lis cliainc- 
ter, hereafter to "ho .■^iilniiill' il u> CiinL'rci-s, which shall he 
the result ot" their own dcliiuralc elHilce ; hut let it 1)6 at tlie 
same time distinctly niuiiisicH.d liy llicni that the plan of 
such a government inn.-; ori;;iiiaic witluheuiselves, and with- 
out the inti rlri( ii.-i> i.r {]„■ r.xt, mive. 

" The laws ol ( 'alilnruia ami New Mexico, as they existed 
at the coiKlusi'.n ul Ilir tirat\- of (Jnadalupe Ilidal^'O, reL'U- 
hiljii;; n\r rclalMiii, nf (\:r i iil'ial.ilanis with each nilicr, will 
necf<-aril> r.anain in U>\rr in the Territories. Tla ir n la- 
tioiis wilh the (nnma- ;.M.\cTiinient have lieen di-M-had, and 
new lelalioiis crciled lutween them and the (him inniint of 
the United States ; hut the aistiva lavs, re<:nlati}i:^ the rela- 
tions of Ike people vilh each other, ii-ill continnc vnlil ol/nr^, 
lawfully cnueicd, shall supersede them. Our naval anil mili- 
tary coinmanders on these stations will lie fully inslrucli'd to 
cooperate with the friends of order and good governiiit nt,so 
far as their cooperation can be useful and proper." 

The President in his message in avowing his 
action, says: 

" I did not hesitate to express to the people of those Territories 
my desire that each Tcriitory should, if prepared to eorr.phj 
xcifh the requisitions of the Constitution of the Uitiled States, 
form a plan of a Slate constitution, and. suhiuit the same to 
Congress, with a prayer for admission into the Union as a 
State; but I did not anticipale, supKCst, or aulhorize llie 
establishment of any such government without the assent of 
Consress, nor did I authorize any Government agentor offi- 
cer to interfere with or exercise any fnfiuence or control 
over the election of delegates, or over any convention, in 



nakins or modifyi 



their domestic 
ir proposed const 



delihotate choice, and oriKinali; Willi Ihoniselvts, without 
the interference of the Executive." 
I I add a paragraph from the despatch of the com- 
j mander of the Pacific station, to show, that while 
General Riley, as governor, was contemplating 
I similar movements, Mr. King arrived before they 
had been acted on, in time to have arrested them, 
i and that it was matter of congratulation that the 
Administration had approved of them by anticipa- 
j tion: 

I " The steamer Edith has been sent to Mazatlan for the ne- 
' cessary intelligence, and, on her arrival with information 
that tio other than a revenue law had been passed, General 
1 Riley issued a proclamation for the election of the neces- 
j sary executive and judicial officers under the existing laws, 
and recommending, at the same lime, the election of dele- 
'• gates to a convention to form a State constitution. Mr. 
I King arrived at the time these proclamations were about being 
issued, and it was mattei^ of great congratulalion that the Gov 
j ernment,oy anticipation, had approved of the latter measure. 
i Every means will be used to give the people of California 
1 an opportunity of -expressing their wishes on this point, and 
j of bringing the matters to a happy conclusion." 
j Also, a brief extract from a subsequent dispatch 
of the present Secretary of War to Governor Ri- 
ley, distinctly recognizing and approving his proc- 
lamation, and the steps taken by him to effect an 
organization pf a State government: 

War Depart.'Ment, .August 24, 1S45. 
[extract.] 
Tn view of the exercise of the most important political 
right which appertains to the people of California— that of 
forming a constitution and asking admission into the Union 
of these States — this Deiiartnienl has watched with great 
care and solicitude the steps already taken to effect these 
I objects. Regarding your pioclanialion of the.'Jd June last as 
a notice intended in part to render popular action uniform 
in resj.:ect to the desired or;;anizalinn iiiln a more perfect 
gnveriiment, it is seen, witli s:n ar saii-larlioii, that your 
propositions had been aci ("iilril wiili ^nat clieii fulness and 
alacrity, except in few instances, w lure it is supposed self- 
ish and unpatriotic motives prevailed. 

GEO. VV. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War. 

j Brevet Brig. Gen. Riley, Monterey, California. 

I have italicised a few sentences to attract more 

[ particular attention to them. In other respects, 
they are transcripts strictly. 

[ They exhibit, as I contend, Mr. Speaker, uncon- 
stitutional action and gi-oss usurpation, on the part 
of the Executive, of both judicial and legislative 
powers. Unless I greatly err in construction, the 
evidence of the former w ill be found in the second 
pnrograph of the first extract from the letter to 
Mr. King, and in a matter most seriously to pre- 
judice the just rights of the South. It is well 
known to the country that one of the gravest mat- 

j ters in controversy between the North and the 

I South, in relation to our new acquisitions, is, how 
far the Mexican laws regulating the relations of 
persons, continued and availed to preclude the re- 

I lation of master and slave, after they became terri- 
tories of the United States; and whether the 
Constitution of the United States, and the new 
relations subsisting between such territories and 
this Confederacy, coiriposed in half of slaveholding 
States, did not override and abrogate all Mexican 
laws abolishing or interfering with that relation. 

II The South has always so contended, and deemed 



the matter of the highest moment. Her most emi- 
neiu statesmen and jurists have sustained and justi- 
fied the opinion. Tliis very matter constituted the 
Bubject of the memorable compromise, known by 
the name of tlie author of these very instructions, 
^vhich was devised for tlie sole purpose of testing 
this question before the highest judicature of the 
land, and after receiving the sanction of the Senate, 
was, from peculiar causes, defeated in this House. 
The nature and import of this question must have 
been fresh in mind, and fully understood by the 
Secretary of State. It was empliatically a judicial 
question to determine whether the laws of Mexico 
regulating the relations of persons, continued and 

1)revailed in California, and belonged, until the 
egislation of Congress afforded appeal to the Su- 
preme^Court, appropriately and exclusively to the 
judiciary (such as it might be) of the de facto gov- 
ernment in California. Yet this whole question 
is summarily determined by the fiat of the Ex- 
ecutive, " tiiat the existing laics regulating the 
relations of the people icith each other icill continue, 
vntil others, lawfully enacted, shall supersede them." 
There is not the slightest reference to the possible 
effect of the Constitution as the supreme law, 
or of the rights vested in the States of the Confed- 
eracy, of which the institutions of one lialf were 
directly affected, in modifying or overruling their 
operation. There is only in immediate connec- [ 
tion — I would trust from no sinister motive, but 
certainly suspiciously — a significant intimation that 
the powers of the army and navy may be invoked 
in aid of the friends of order and good government; ' 
That is, it is fairly to be presumed, as'thus under- 
stood and prescribed by the Executive. When | 
the imperfect nature of the judicature of the de 
facto government is considered, and the character 
and limited knowledge of the alcades and judges { 
(many of them Mexicans unacquainted with our 
institutions, and accustomed to yield implicit | 
deference to the Executive will) are reflected on, is I 
it not apparent of what controlling weight and dan- | 
gerous tendency must have been this unqualified , 
opinion of the President? If cast his whole weight J 
against the rights of the slaveholder, and effectually i' 
settled, during the existence of the de facto govern- i 
ment, this purely judicial controversy, against us 
and our cause.* I shall have occasion to refer to 
theeffect of this again. For the present, I pass on. 
I come;^now,^lr. Speaker, to the main feature 
of unconstitutional usurpation in the action of the 
Executive. It is clear that the Administration de- 
sired, and expressed to the people of California the 
desire, that they should proceed to fornn a State con- 
stitution, and establish a State government, pre- 
paratory to asking admission into the Union. It 
authorized its agent, fully informed of its views, 



*To illustrate tlie tendencies of tins message, and the 
manner in which they arc viewed hy the Free .Soil sup- 
porters of the Adniinisiration, I subjoin two extracts from 
the New York Tribune, one of the ablest as well as the 
most extensively circulated journals of the Noith. In ref- 
erence to the recommendations of the message, it says: 

"We are resigned to see the ^VillrlCJl |iiovi.-o aijain and 
' again reji^ctedby Congress, [)ro\ idcil ihr icnitoiics air niv- 
' ertheless preserved from llic|inlliiij()ii(irsii,\( ly. Jl is ilie 
' tubtlancc wc care fcr, and not ilic shail .» . Ii (';, ri. 'liiylor 
•thrown the influence of his ikiuic :iiiil :.iii n ,ii i a,,ri,i ihc 
' admisiioii of the State of C:ililiiri.i;i ' , /,- 

'tuiion, and the protection of \iH Ml . m i; , .iii.iis 

« of Texas to siiJijcct ami emhnr liir. Ii' i j ■. r . ,' , on tin. 
'r'i^ht side, no luailer what he may led cuiuliaincd iusaj iu 



" to suggest the adoption of measures best calculated to 
[give them effect." The Executive did not merely 
|l tolerate or connive at the action of the people. It 
I invited and recommended it. Through its subordi- 
{ nate, the Governor, it determined the time of acting 
j; — of election in effect — the qualifications of electors, 
and all the necessary details for the assembling of 
the convention. It is true, the President mani- 
fests solicitude, that the people, when thus assem- 
bled in convention, should be entirely free in the 
formation of the plan of their new government, in 
j| the adoption of tlieir constitution, and the estab- 
i, lishmenl of their domestic institutions. He like- 
jj wise has all the time reference to their intended 
I, prayer for admission into tlie Union, and to the ne- 
|! cessity of the supposed assent of Congress thereto. 
l! With strange inconsistency and confusion of ideas, 
I the Administration seems to think itself entirely 
,| innocent and exempt from all charge of Executive 
I interference, provided only it left the convention 
I free in action, notwithstanding it directly incited 
I and rec^ommended all the preliminary movements, 
[ determined upon qualifications, and all other the 
jl iTiost important details. It did not interfere when 
l' it directly invited subversion of the existing de 
j facto government ! — the formation of a wholly new 
and different goverimient, and the adoption of a 
constitution, a permanent organic law ! It seems 
[, to consider, too, that, as the assent of Congress is 
li necessary, and to be applied for previous to admis- 
sion, its knosvledge, assent, or approval, may be 
, dispensed with as to all preliminary proceedings 
' of whatever character, and however vital. There 
are a strange perversity and unsoundness of view 
I in all this. 

The mere invitation or recommendation of action 
to the people, and his subsequent connivance at all 
the ulterior movements, inay seem to the superfi- ^ 
dial observer a very small matter. The first false 
step here, as in morals, entails a succession — evils 
perhaps not dreamt of. A very small seed ap- 
parently, it has been prolific. It has grown, and 
branched, and ripened, until numberless mischiefs 
are its fruits. The Administration has wholly 
' transcended its simple executive functions. It has 
: incited and aided to overthrow the de facto ^o\ em- 
j ment, it was bound to maintain, and to supersede 
all laws it was bound to enforce. It has trenched 
upon and assumed high legislative powers, the ex- 
clusive functions of Congress, its coordinate de- 
partment under the Constitution. What more 
: clearly a matter of delicate legislative discretion 
j than to determine the proper time and mode of 
i establishing first a Territorial Government, and 
subsequently the more advanced state of develop- 
ment and maturity which v/ould justify the erec- 
tion of a Territory into a State! What a graver 



'favor of non-intervention and against the proviso. We 
'shall thank him for his dei.ds, and let those who choose 
' place emphasis on his words." 

And in relation to the clause of Mr. Clayton's instruc- 
tions relative to the operation of the Mexican laws, it exult- 
ingly exclaims: 

"Enough said! TItui ii the m.: .,. ,. i,' ..: ulih li ihc 
' 'friends of Freedom in Congio- : - ■:(■(.' 

''with last winter, hut which tlir - ' .\ " u ■■...:.' :i I •,. i<- 
' iiisoiis would not consent to; v.i-.' .1 r n ili ^ \:< niil i.nl 
' Irl ( 'alil(jnii:i he (w^iaiiizrd at all. ll J- ]ilaiii. iim liuivdcal 

■ I ;\v. Inn III.' CallioiJiisaiiiUaHlliiansdnnoltlic lr>s >I()uIlv 

■ rr|Miiiiaic !l. ar,(l iil.M-t lliat llic I'rdcral ( laislilulK.ii car- 

■ ri( .s .-lav( IT, or tin; ni'lil to introduce and mtiiMam slavery, 
' into every acre of territory acijuirtd by the Union." 



function of legislative power than to determine the j 
people who shall form a separate political commu- ; 
nity, the portion of that people who shall enjoy the 
rights of citizenship, the qualifications of the elec- i; 
live franchise, and the circumstances under which | 
it shall be exercised! What a more solemn occa- . 
sion for the exercise of legislative deliberation than 
to determine on the propriety of calling a hetero- ^ 
geneous people to assemble in convention for a 
radical change of government, and the establish- [j 
ment of organic law that may be perpetual! n 
Even the details for the assembling of such a body j 
— are they not all clearly for legislative regulation? |: 
Yet the determination of all these grave matters, , 
the assumption of all these high powers have been i 
taken on itself by the present Administration, and j 
are directly involved in its action. {' 

Even more, sir. If this action of the Executive | 
be tolerated or sustained, it involves the devesting | 
and stripping the States of this Confederacy with- i 
out their concurrence, it may be against their will, r 
of their entire sovereignty and rights of eminent ,, 
domain over this whole Territory of California. |; 
They are all transferred and vested in this new ! 
State of California, which, with enormous proper- i 
tions, has sprung into vigorous existence under the i 
dexterous accouchement of Executive skill — and i 
this, too, while yet those very States are saddled ] 
with the necessity of paying many millions for the ; 
rights thus summarily devested. | 

This action of the Executive, unless annulled, i 
not only has involved the exercise ofthe high legis- [ 
lative powers I have referred to, but likewise the ' 
abrogation of them in Congress, and its utter in- 
ability rightfully to exercise them in respect to Cali- j 
fornia. ' Its action has been entirely anticipated ], 
and frustrated. Congress cannot exercise such ij 
powers as, in subordination to the Constitution, 
the principles of our institutions, and the rights of ^ 
the States, it unquestionably had. It cannot pro- ; 
pose a territorial government; it cannot prescribe 
boundaries, carve outnew territorial communities; ! 
it cannot watch over — rear, under its supervision, , 
infant communities into maturity — prescribe the ij 
character of their citizens, determine the period of \\ 
their adequate development and preparation for \\ 
the high privilege of sovereign States — nay, can- j 
not even (except with the consent of the State of ,' 
California) assert the rights of these United States i 
to the proprietorship of the public lands therein, i 
and make needful rules and regulations for their | 
disposition, as directly prescribed on Congress by i 
the Constitution. 

Sir, tiie entire relation of California to the Uni- I 
ted States has been changed. It is no longer a ] 
Territory of the United States, but a State clothed i 
with all sovereign attributes, and demanding ad- j 
mission, as an equal, into this noble confederacy i! 
of sovereignties. Under the sole tutelage of the j 
Executive, upon his mere invitation, and by his , 
connivance, the sovereignty of the United Slates ■ 
has been abrogated, territorial dependence re- || 
nounced* and the attitude of independence and jj 
sovereignty assumed. Is not this so? Has not 
California at this time a constitution and laws, an 
Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary — all the 
machinery, the powers, and the attributes of a 
separate sovereign State? Has she not already 
exercised the highest functions of a State ? She 
has sent forward her prayer for admission as a 
State, and we daily expect her knock at our door. 



Slie has elected members of Congress — nay. Sena- 
tors. Can aTerritory elect Senators, or be admitted 
to this Union ? The Constitution says States, States 
only. But, as has been justly remarked, " if the 
' Constitution were silent, he would be ignorant in- 
' deed of the character of our political system who did 
' not see that States — sovereign, independent com- 
' munities — and not Territories, can only be admit- 
' ted. Ours is a Union of States — a Federal Jiepub- 
' lie." Each State comes into a noble fraternity of 
equal sovereignties, in every respect a coequal. 
She pledges to the great constitutional compact a 
faith which should be ever sacred. Sucli act im- 
plies option, and requires freedom from territorial 
subordination, andindependence of action. A State 
that is free to come in is likewise at liberty to stay 
out. The privileges of the Union must be the 
inducement to admission. A State cannot be 
coerced into this Union. That would be utterly at 
war with the whole character of our system, and 
would destroy the very basis of the constitutional 
compact — the assent of the States as parties. This 
exactly constituted the great vantage ground of 
Missouri on her memorable application for admis- 
sion. Under the authority, and with the assent of 
Congress, the people of a previously-constituted 
Territory had met in convention, adopted a con- 
stitution, and formed a State. If Congress re- 
fused to admit her, she would no longer be a 
Territory of the Union, but an independent State 
out of it. If Congress imposed conditions, as 
was at one time designed, which her people v.-ere 
resolved not to receive, she was free to refuse 
them, and to prefer independence out ofthe Union 
to entrance on such terms. Congress was con- 
strained to elect between her total loss and separate 
sovereignty, and her admission on terms she would 
accept. Rightfully Congress could do no more. 
It could not remand her into a territorial condition, 
for it had given assent to, and authorized the 
formation of, a State government. 

We are now prepared to appreciate the results 
of the unconstitutional action ofthe Executive, in 
inviting California to the formation of a State 
government, with a view to admission. In what 
a different position for legislation is Congress 
placed, when, instead of a territory, in confessed 
' subordination, under a mere de facto government, 
! liable to be at its pleasure remodeled or annulled, 
it finds a State, with all the features and attributes 
' of sovereignty, applying for admission. It was a 
capital blunder, to say the least of it, in the Ad- 
ministration to suppose, that because admission 
was referred to the future assent of Congress, all 
the previous action which it invited and encour- 
\ aged would bejustified and innocuous. Congress 
j is necessarily by it involved in the gravest embar- 
! rassment and difficulty. We of the Federal Legis- 
lature are in a strait between the admission of 
California, just as she is, a State, with all her great 
I proportions, and thereby impliedly giving our as- 
I sent and ratification to the gross violations of the 
] Constitution and usurpations of power which have 
I marked the whole action of the Executive and peo- 
I pie there; or to annul the whole proceeding, and 
j remand California again to her rightful position of 
I territorial subordination. To undo a thing done 
j is always difficult, and widely dilTerent from permit- 
I ting it to be done. To dethrone California from its 
j assumed sovereignty, to annul its constitution 
1 and strip all its functionaries of their high powers 



8 



to set aside the whole unconstitutional usurpation 
and revolutionary proceedings, and restore her to 
her rightful position of dependence, are very grave 
acts. She may refuse to submit, and there will be 
imminent danger of collision and defiance, result- 
ing in war or perpetual separation. Should we 
even attempt to correct some of the most glaring 
evils of her action — such, for instance, as her ex- 
travagant pretensions to limits — by imposing con- 
ditions on her admission, we thereby recognize 
and treat with her as a State. We impliedly rati- 
fy the usurpations and unconstitutional action of 
the Executive, and legalize the unwarrantable 
revolutionary proceedings of her people. Once 
thus recognized, she may refuse acceptance of 
your conditions, withdraw her application for ad- 
mission, and stand alone an independent State, the 
greatest on the Pacific coast, in that contin- 
gency, having given asseqt to her position as a 
State, we could not rightfully coerce her into the 
Union, or to subjection. 

Embarrassing and difficult as is the position in 
which the unauthorized action of the Executive 
has placed us, our duty, Mr. Speaker, seems to 
me plain. We ought at once to remand California 
to her rightful position of territorial dependence. We 
ought to annul or greatly modify the unconstitu- 
tional and revolutionary proceedings which her 
people have taken under the invitation and en 
couragement of the Executive. As Representa- i 
tives of the States of this Confederacy, we can \ 
never tolerate, without their previous consent, tiie 
divesting of the sovereignty and rights of eminent 
domain ceded to and vested in them. As a coor- 1 
dinate department of this Government, Congress 1 
should never suiier or sanction the engrossment 
by the Executive, and the abnegation to itself, of 
the high legislative functions which, in subordina- 
tion to the Constitution and the rights of the 
States, pertained exclusively to it over this Terri- 
tory of the Union. It can never endure that the 
delicate and all-important discretion of determining 
when the people of a Territory have passed a pre- 
paratory pupilage, and attained a growth and ma- 
turity befitting a sovereign State and a member of 
this Confederacy; who shall constitute such peo- 
ple and enjoy the elective franchise in the prime 
measure of devising and estabhshing their organic 
law; within what limits they shall act and be con- 
fined; and, in brief, of deciding all the important 
preliminaries to the call and assembling of a con- 
vention to form a constitution and adopt a State 
government, — should be assumed and exercised by 
the Executive alone. We are under the highest 
obligations to rebuke and condemn the unwarrant- 
able dereliction of the Executive in the discharge 
of his executive duties; in inviting and conniving 
at the sul)version of ihe existing de facto govern- 
ment he was bound to m.aintain, in the substitu- 
tion and relinquishment to another radically dif- 
ferent, of all its functions and powers. The 
highest necessity would hardly have justified such 
action. Such, I submit, there certainly was not. 
What the President himself says in relation to 
New Mexico at this time, would, I insist, have 
applied with equal force to California under its de 
/ac/o government. He says: 

"Tin; pi'iiplo of this 'IVnitory (Nr;w Mexico) onjoy the 
benefit and proiciiioii dl their miiiiir'ip.-il l;iu s, m juiiiiilly de- 
rived frimi -Mrxi,.,,, ;i,ii| have a ijiiHlarv loree MalK.iicd tliere 
to prntcct lliem Iniiii the Indi.ui.-. ft is nmliiuhtciUy true 
that the jrrojicrty, iiics, Uhcrlics, arid religion of the jico)ile of 



Ncv) Mexico, are belter protected than they ecer were before 
I the treaty of cession." 

I Inconveniences, doubtless, were experienced 
' from the iinperfect nature and undefined powers 
of the de facto government; but the correction of 
them belonged exclusively to Congress. 
[ What makes the action of the Executive in this 
j matter the more extraordinary and unjustifiable is, 
that its invitation to and coimivance at the estab- 
lisiiment of a State government, and of the steps 
I taken for the admission of California as a State, 
were directly in the teeth of the recent action of 
Congress. By whatever unhappy divisions in- 
! fluenced, it was undoubtedly true, that at the last 
session. Congress had directly refused to authorize 
such measures, or to admit California as a State. 
A bill for the latter purpose, my colleague before 
me [Judge Bayly] interrupts me to say, was in- 
troduced into this House, and did not receive a 
single vote ! Now, is it to be endured, that what 
Congress denies, the President shall practically 
grant ? — when Congress determines a Territory 
not prepared for admission, the Executive shall 
decide it to be, and originate measures to induce 
j and almost enforce such admission .' 
I We are further bound, Mr. Speaker, to remand 
' California, to rebuke a bad, very bad, precedent, 
and a most unwarrantable assumption both of 
j powers and extent of limits by her people. Their 
j proceedings have been, in my opinion, revolution- 
ary and disorganizing, of dangerous tendency, as 
I well as practically mischievous. I wish, sir, 1 had 
! time to enter here into a full exposition of this point, 
\ for upon it, in our country, the most vague and 
erroneous opinions are but too prevalent, it would, 
however, consume my entire hour. I can only 
glance at it. I hold an existing government, even 
i a de facto one, can only legitimately be subverted 
1 and substituted by another through the intervenr 
tion or on the invitation of the legislative -power. A 
convention of the people, to establish organic law, 
can only, conformably to the principles of civil 
government, be summoned by laiv. If otherwise, it 
is revolutionary and disorganizing, and may if 
necessary be suppressed by the strong hand. 
Mark, I do not say it would be morally wrong. 
I recognize the right of revolution, and the cause 
of revolutionists is often that of honor and justice. 
But in such action there can be no pretence of 
legality or regular constitutional procedure. Sir, 
the people of California, if oppressed, if even from 
the neglect of Congress to exercise its aiJthority 
' over them, so aggrieved and injured as to find 
!j their condition intolerable, might have been mor- 
'\ ally justified in dissolving the bonds that united 
' them as the people of a territory to us, in subvert- 
ing the existing government and setting up an inde 
I pendent State for itself. But that, sir, would hav( 



have 
j been revolution — an appeal to the tribunal of the 
world and to the God of Battles. Such was not 
their state, nor was such their contemplation. 
Yet, sir, of that character has been their action. 
Their convention was summoned, was i^gulated 
by no legislation. Who constituted the people to 
assemble, and within what limits they resided and 
were to exercise jurisdiction, were not ascertained 
or defined by law. The right of sovereignty in- 
herent in the peo[)le, of which we hear so much, 
can only pertain to a previously existing, an or- 
ganized or recognized political community; nor 
to unconnected masses, casual sojourners, to 



9 



hordes of roaming, unsettled adventurers and 
gold seekers. 

I mean, Mr. Speaker, no disrespect or dispar- 
agement of the population of California. I have 
among them a few friends, to whom, in their far- 
off wanderings, my sympathies strongly cling, and 
whose qualities of heart and head command my 
esteem and admiration. There is, too, a propor- 
tion in that population of American citizens,'trained 
under our institutions and prepared for freedom 
and self-government, and to their example and 
influence is doubtless to be ascribed the preva- 
lence of good order and the very curious observ- 
ance of forms and practices common under the 
legitimate workings of our system, in the midst of 
the radical illegality and essentially revolutionary 
proceedings which have marked the recent course 
of the people. But it is not to be denied that the 
population of California is of the most heteroge- 
neous composition — Mexicans, Indians, Chinese, 
Otaheiteans, adventurers, and gold hunters from all 
the nations of the earth — of every language, com- 
plexion, and race. A very large proportion of 
them are mere sojourners, adventurers, and way- 
farers, roaming over a wild, uninhabited expanse 
in quest of treasure with which to return to their 
countries and their homes. The great' majority 
have no ties to the country, no families nor settle- 
ments, and are literally tenants by sufferance, if 
not trespassers on the domain of the United States. 
The right of such a population, without any pre- 
vious recognition and organization, into a separate 
political community, to sovereignty, and inherent 
power, over and without the authority of Con- 
gress to establish a State government, can surely 
not be gravely maintained by any. Yet that very 
people, on mere Executive invitation, have assumed 
and practically exercised such high prerogative 
and have attempted to stamp fundamental, organic 
law on thousands of miles of waste, uninhabited 
country. Sir, the limits these people assume, and 
which now constitutes this new State of Califor- 
nia, cover some nine degrees of latitude, running 
diagonally, too; embrace the whole Pacific coast 
of our new acquisitions, with all its valuable har- 
bors, an extent as great as from New Brunswick 
to North Carolina, and include an expanse of 
wild, unsettled territory equ^ to some five or six 
States of our Union. And is all this to be usurped 
and held by some fit'ty or one hundred thousand 
people, without the previous authority of Con- 
gress or consent of the States, at the invitation 
and under the encouragement of the Executive 
alone? It is not to be tolerated, and at whatever 
hazards California ought to be remanded to terri- 
torial subordination. 

With its performances and their results, however 
startling, the Administration seem well satisfied. 
The strangest feature of the message is the earnest 
recommendation to Congress to allow the Execu- 
tive a similar course of action and policy in refer- 
ence to all the residue of our vast acquisitions 
from Mexico, and to witness with acquiescence 
the repetition in indefinite series of such uncon- 
stitutional usurpations and encroachments on its 
own powers and the rights of the States. It is 
gravely proposed that the whole of the vast ex- 
panse of country, except California, acquired from 
Mexico, should be left entirely to Executive action, 
to be settled — the people gathered into separate 
communities, grown up under the tutelage of 



the President until they attain the growth and^ 
maturity befitting States of the Union— then at his 
discretion, and as often as he may deem expedi- 
ent, to be invited and encouraged to assemble in 
conventions — to form constitutionsand organic law, 
to fix limits, to assume all the attributes and func- 
tions of a sovereign State, ready for admission 
into the Union— «/i icilhout the adion of Congress 
or Ike regulalion of a single law. Was there ever 
such a conception of statesmanship ? To me it 
seems like the crude fantasy of a crazed brain, 
rather than the grave recommendation of reflec- 
tion and wisdom. Sir, the proposition is as far- 
cical as it is preposterous: a troublesome family of 
infant communities the President would have on 
his hands, to be sure! — rare brawling and quar- 
reling, with now and then a very pretty fight, 
doubtless ! New Mexico would be ambitious 
enough to cope with Texas right away; Deseret 
and California are already at loggerheads about 
limits; and as to the innumerable little communi- 
ties that may be expected to spring up amid the 
valleys of the Rocky Mountains, and the oases of 
the Great Basin,they would succeed in their strug- 
gles to the tenacity and fierceness of the grizzly 
bears they- expel. Sir, frequent and wise legisla- 
tion will be absolutely requisite for the due man- 
agement and settlement of these distant Territo- 
ries, and you must have volumes of laws instead 
of none. 

Besides, Mr. Speaker, how utterly inconsistent 
with all the wise limitations of our Constitution, 
and the jealous vigilance of Executive power we 
have been always enjoined to entertain, to allow 
such an accumulation of extraordinary powers in 
the hands of the Executive, and for such indefi- 
nite period of continuance. Sole supervisor, legis- 
lator, and executive of such vast and remote re- 
gions, in what would his position differ from that 
of a monarch governing by satraps or proconsuls, 
under the name of governors and bearers of dis- 
patches ? A more pregnant fact, a more striking 
illustration, to show the bitterness and intensity of 
the sectional issues that now distract the councils 
of the country, and merge all things else, could 
not be afforded, than the mere recommendation of 
such a scheme of policy in relation to the new 
Territories. And but for the vile anti-slavery agi- 
tation, I venture to assert, it would never for a 
moment receive advocacy or countenance on this 
floor. 

Hitherto I have, Mr. Speaker, considered the 
action and policy of the Executive without refer- 
ence in the main to this subject; but I should fail 
of my highest duty, if I did not expose and de- 
nounce their disastrous consequences to the rights 
and honor of the South. In this respect they are 
most of all obnoxious to me. I consider them 
most insidious and dangerous; that they have 
already inflicted great wrong, and that, carried out 
as recommended, they would filch from the States 
of the South all chance of participation in the new 
acquisitions, and effectually exclude all ' slave- 
holders with their property. 

By that action and policy, unless repudiated, we 
have been already excluded from the wide ex- 
panse of California and the whole Pacific coast. 
All sensible men know that, in relation to Califor- 
nia, the agitation and threat of the Wilmot proviso 
has been very nearly tantamount to its enforce- 
ment for our exclusion. Slaves are in the nature 



10 



of capital, which is proverbially timid, and could ! 
not be carried in while there was the impending [ 
threat and danger of compulsory abolition. The i 
Administration, although not responsible for, knew | 
this, and it should have operated at least to delay 
their action. Just when the determined stand of 
many of the southern States in assertion of their I 
rights might have encouraged their citizens in re- 1 
liance on their protection to venture into the terri- 
tory with their slaves, the Administration thought 
proper to determine the matter against them by 
usurping the judicial function, and announcing 
positively that the Mexican laws regulating the j 
relations of persons were in force and must be ex- [ 
ecuted. This must have operated continued and I 
eflectual exclusion. Then at a time, when both 
from previous causes and the avowed interpreta- 
tion of the Executive as to the operation of the 
Mexican laws — from the character of the existing 
population and the exclusion of southern men with 
their property — it was certain the decision of the 
people would be against the recognition of the do- 
mestic institutions of the South, the Executive, 
without constitutional authority, in the face of the 
direct refusal of Congress to do the same thing, 
invited the heterogeneous population to assemble 
in convention to establish its organic law. At this 
very time, too, the Administration or its agents 
knew — for it was openly urged in the California pa- 
pers — that in forming their constitution, the people | 
v/ould be under the strongest moral suasion to ex- j 
elude slavery, from the consideration that otherwise, 
in their intended application for admission, they ] 
would encounter the resolute hostility of the whole | 
North. The result was of course as anticipated, and 
in the constitution was incorporated a clause prohi- 
biting slavery. Surely no proper time had been al- 
lowed for the immigration of citizens from the slave- 
holding States — no opportunity liad been afforded 
by legislation, for the appeal which the Consti- 
tution of the United States gives in certain cases 
to the Supreme Court, by which the operation and 
effect of the Mexican laws might have been judi- 
cially determined. Such a decision, if hereafter at- 
tainable, would, though favorable to the South, be 
of no possible avail noic, that the constitution of j| 
the State prohibits slavery. All this wrought gross !! 
wrong and injustice to the southern States — the h 
joint sovereigns of the whole Territory. Nor was 
it confined to a narrow space, or to the country jl 
actually settled or even roamed over; but the 'i 
strange medley of all kindreds and tongues and;, 
people, constituting the limited and motley popula- jj 
tion, were allowed to stamp hundreds of miles i 
never trodden by the foot of the white man with l| 
an organic law which forever excluded the citizens j 
of the southern Slates with their slave property. || 
All this was done at the invitation and with the '| 
encouragement of the Executive. How idle for I' 
him now to soothe us by the assurani^e, that after 
California shall have been admitted, her people 
cannot be prevented from changing their constitu- 
tion at any time and establishing our domestic in- 
stitutions ! What chance, when the property of 
the South is not admitted, and our citizens without 
it are practically, as we know, excluded from set- 
tling, to establish an interest or a feeling which 
alone could induce such change. It would be be- 
sotted folly to expect such result. 

Another result of injustice and wrong to the 
South from this action of the Executive, was in 



precluding us from our legitimate influence in Con- 
gress in determining the time when the people of 
the Territory should be free to elect in regard to our 
institutions, and from the great power we wielded, 
by resisting all legislation for this Territory, to 
compel fair participation on our part, or a righteous 
adjustment of the whole question. In the Senate, 
the South is still potent, and even in this body we 
are not yet powerless. By delaying the period for 
the formation of a State government in California, 
all the chances of time were secured, and at least a 
probability afforded that our citizens might go in 
with their property in such numbers as to make 
our interest paramount. At so early a date after 
the acqusition, when the original Mexican and 
foreign population constituted the majority of the 
population, this could not reasonably be expected. 
But the discovery of the wonderful mines and the 
consequent amazing enhancement of the value of 
labor in California, increased daily the likelihood 
that slaves would be needed and introduced in 
numbers sufficient to determine the choice of the 
people as to their institutions. From realizing 
this strong probability, we are effectually pre- 
cluded by the State constitution of California. 

Our power of coercing settlement, by resisting 
the establishment of civil government in California, 
is effectually cut off. That has been done in de- 
spite of us through the action of the Executive. A 
great means of compelling the attention of the 
Union to our claims is thus lost to us. A most po- 
tent lever for satisfactory adjustment, which at the 
past session of Congress moved so many to .the 
support of Walker's amendment, has been snatched 
from our hands. It may be asked, have we 
not a similar one in the ability to refuse admission .' 
By no means so satisfactory or effective a one, 
because they enjoy a civil government, and by 
their constitution we are just as effectually ex- 
cluded previous to as after admission. 

In consequence of the action of the Executive, 
the alleged choice of the people of California ia 
inv.oked against us — a snap judgment has been ta- 
ken, and now it is pleaded in bar. Our pretensions 
even to the whole of the vast territory of Califor- 
nia are alleged to be debarred. In weighing con- 
siderations for equitable adjustment or division be- 
tween the North andfthe South, it may be insist- 
ed that the vast expanse of California is lost* 
ground, and no longer even a make-weight in the 
scale. Such has been the wrong and ouster of the 
South under this Executive usurpation. 

In full view and with fresh experience of these 
disastrous results to the cause of the South, we 
are seriously urged, Mr. Speaker, in the message 
on your table, to endure unnumbered repetitions of 
them. The same action and course of policy are 
recommended to be acquiesced in, with regard to 
all the other immense acquisitions from JVlexico. 
What could be more insidious and fatal to the just 
claims of the South? The same subtle process 
that, against the will of every State in the South, 
has practically precluded us from all participation in 
California, would as inevitably work our perpetual 
exclusion from all the other Territories. The 
Mexican laws are equally applicable to all the 
country, unsettled as well as settled, regulating 
the relations of persons. There is to be no Federal 
legislation, and no provision, consequently, even 
fo"r appeals, to test before the Supreme Court the 
effect of those laws for the abolition of slavery. 



11 



Slaveholders and slaves are thus efTectually to be 
kept out. By a population thus naturally hostile 
to our institutions, as fast as a petty nucleus of 
emigrants or adventurers can be obtained, consti- 
tutions are to be formed, stamping on vast circuits 
around the perpetual exclusion of organic law. j 
Thus are the rights of th% slaveholding States to ' 
fair participation in the vast acquisitions so large- 
ly won by their valor, and paid for by their treas- 
ure, to be by stealth and indirection forever filched 
away. Sir, we should be as inevitably excluded, 
as if under the prohibition of the most express 
law, or fenced oti' by a cordon of bristling bayo- 
nets. 

To contentment under such wrongs, we of the 
South are to be soothed by the evasion, forsooth! 
of the Wilmot proviso. Why, that is but exclu- 
sion hy law; and how differs it that we should be as 
inevitably excluded icitkont law. This scheme of 
policy is worse than the Wilmot proviso. That 
is, indeed, sheer robbery, but it is at least open and 
legalized with the forms of law. This effects the 
same foul wrong by indirection and cheatery, add- 
ing insult to our understandings, and mockery of 
our hopes. We of the South, Mr. Speaker, are 
not struggling against a name, nor are we to be 
deluded by shadows.. We are claiming a sub- 
stance and a reality. We demand fair participa- 
tion in our common acquisitions, or at least equal 
opportunity of enjoying them. I know some think 
the nature of these countries and the necessities of 
their clime and productions must exclude slavery. 
So do not I. In all new countries where labor is 
dear, and domestic servants particularly are not to 
be obtained, if law allows, the conveniences and 
desires of men will, in my opinion, demand slaves. 
In mining operations they would confessedly be 
most valuable; and at this very moment, did the 
South enjoy her rights, her whole slave property 
would already have felt the appreciation of a large 
demand for emigration to California. Be this, 
however, as it may, our honor and equality in this 
Union will not allow the degradation of express 
prj»hibition, or practical exclusion from the privi- 
lege of participation. 

The grounds on which this policy of the Exec- 
utive is commended to our favor, seem to me 
wholly uiitena!)le. The main one, as I understand 
it, is to allay the anti-slavery agitation and prevent 
sectional issues. With the present evident pur- 
pose of t!ie North to insist on the exclusion of sla- 
very from the Territories, it is manifest this is only 
to be effected with them by the conviction that 
their end will be as effectually attained by the poli- 
cy recommended, as by the Wilmot Proviso; and 
that affords but scant reason for our acquiescence 
in it. But even at the North, it will only aggra- 
vate, not allay agitation. Were mere lust of polit- 
ical power the sole motive of the North in seeking 
our exclusion, they know but too well tlie effect, 
in the absence of an express prohibition, of its 
threat, to exclude. They would on tiiat account 
keep legislative action aUvays impending. To the 
like conclusion would tend the fanatical and mere 
political motives tliat so largely induce this perni- 
cios agitation. Fanatics who, wiser than Christi- 
anity, conceive slavery dire sin, and demagogues 
who pander to popular passions for their selfish 
purposes, will never for years endure, even in re- 
gard to the Territories, the policy of inaction, sub- 
tle and certain as are its effects for our exclusion. 



If they did, it would only be to cast themselves, in 
the language of one of their fiery zealots, " an iirc- 
sistible wave, with more violent lashings against the 
next salient point of slavery." At the utmost, the 
agitation could not be staved off beyond the next 
Presidential election, in which the policy to the 
Territories must be inevitably a leading issue, un- 
less final adjustment be previously effected. 

Rely on it, Mr. Speaker, this shirking, shuiTling 
policy will fail of its promised end. It leaves a 
rankling thorn to maintain constant irritation and 
excitement. Instead of healing the existing wound, 
it keeps it open, a running sore. This matter has 
reached a crisis, and must be met with bold and 
decisive treatment. Timidity under such circum- 
stances has been the blunder as well as wrong 
committed by the Administration. Evasion of the 
just responsibility of encountering the pernicloua 
"Free Soil doctrines, has involved it in unconstitu- 
tional usurpations, plunged it into innumerable 
embarrassments, and inflicted on the South foul 
wrong. And are these things to be cloaked under 
the specious plausibilities of respect for the people 
of the Territories and non-intervention ? Respect 
for the rights of the people in thousands of miles 
of vacantierritory, where in fact there are no people, 
is to justify the utter disregard of the rights of the 
people of half the States of this Union, the sole 
proprietors and sovereigns of the whole ! Non- 
intervention with the supporters of this Adminis- 
tration was not wont to be advocated or defended. 
But let that pass. Properly understood, it could 
only contemplate that the citizens of all the States 
of the Union should be equally free to enter and 
setde with their property on the common territo- 
ries of the Union,— slaveholders and non-slave- 
holders to be on precisely the same footing of 
equality and right, and to be equally protected by 
the law and policy of the government; that proper 
Territorial Governments being organized, rea- 
sonable periods should be allov/ed for such set- 
tlement, and then full and free opportunity of 
electing and determining theirdomesticinstitutions, 
should be allowed to the people of each Territory. 
This was to be fair and equal, and by it all might 
have been content to abide. But under this name 
of non-intervention, is it to be tolerated that there 
j should be the most efl'ectual intervention against 
the South ? that while slaveholders with their prop- 
erty had been kept out, and an adverse decision 
was inevitable, the people should be invited and 
encouraged to establish an organic law of per- 
petual exclusion and stamp it on vast regions of 
uninhabited space, and that such process is to be 
repeated as of^ten as necessary for our perpetual 
^ disfranchisement? Sir, it is gross outrage on the 
ij South. The whole policy, its recommendations 
i and defences, should be scorned and repudiated by 
\\ every slaveholding State. 

il I have spoken on this subject, Mr. Speaker, 
jl^trongly and Warmly. With my feelings, I could 
Ij do no less; but, I trust, without a trace of per- 
il sonal bitterness towards the President. For Gen- 
eral Taylor, as 1 have said, I have respect and 
kindness. I do not in fact hold him responsible 
for the action and policy developed in that mes- 
.sage. He is, I believe, an honest, brave old sol- 
j dier. His life has been passed in the field and the 
il camp. His training has been to arms and com- 
I mand, not to deliberation and investigation in the 
. chamber of council or the halls of legislation. It 



12 



is no disparagement to his character or intellect to i 
hold him not profound in national or coiislitutional 
law. He would be more than mortal man if he 
were. His Cabinet have been difl'erently raised 
and exercised. They have been selected for their 
supposed maturity of wisdom and fullness of ex- 
perience on such subjects. On them General 
Taylor would naturally rely, and by their counsels 
be guided in all such matters. In justice and in 
truth, his Cabinet are responsible for the uncon- 
stitutional action, the usurpations and the insidi- 
oustendencies of the policy disclosed by that mes- 
sage. Such responsibility before this House and 
the country I would fix upon them. The conse- 
quences of his action and the results of his policy | 
were surely not appreciated by the President. I 
much fear me, his unsuspecting honesty has been j 
practised on — his generous confidence abused, i 
The pretext of extending protection and encour- ■ 
agement to a distant community cast mainly on 
Executive care has been used to induce wide de- 
parture from his just line of duty, and serious en- 
croachment on the coordinate departments of this 
Government. His desire to give peace to an agi- 
tated country, and to allay alarming sectional ani- 
mosities, have been made subservient to a policy 
of insidious disfranchisement and exclusion of the 
people of the slaveholding States. Sir, it would 
be hard to have the wrong and insult of exclusion 
from territories so largely won by its blood and | 
treasure, inflicted on the South by the tyranny of 
a northern majority. But far more grievous 
would it be, to have the same injury insidiously 
perpetrated through the instrumentality of a south- 
ern President and a slaveholder. His interests, 
his sentiments, tlie associations of his life, forbid 
it. I cannot, will not believe General Taylor 
would knowingly do such wrong to his section. 
Thank God, we have no traitors at the South. 
Her sons "are true to the last moment of breath" 
— true to her honor and her rights. 

There are yet time and opportunity for repara- 
tion and correction of the evils inflicted on the 
South by the action and policy of the Adminis- 
tration. Heaven grant that General Taylor's 
mind may be enlightened to their scope and eltects ! 
Humble as I am, would that I could reach him in 
an appeal as thrilling as my feelings would dictate! 
His native State, that mother of heroes and states- 
men, who is proud to hold him among the first of I 
her living sons, with the claim of parentage and 'i 
nurture, should call on him to forbear. That gal- j 
lant State, which reared him in boyhood and youth , I 
and sent him forth in early manhood to his career II 



of arms and glory, should appeal to him not to 
trample on the rights of her sons. In the name of 
Louisiana, the abode of his mature years, by all 
the affections of home and hearthstone, by all the 
associations and interests of neighbors and friends, 
I would conjure the renunciation of a policy that 
at no distant day must realize to her the horrors 
and the destinies of St. Domingo. I would bear back 
his memory to the trials and the triumphs he has 
shared with the gallant sons of the South, his fel- 
low-soldiers and compatriots in the conflicts which 
so largely won these very acquisitions, from which 
they and theirs are to be excluded. In the bloody 
trenches of Monterey, in the midst of the din and 
smoke of battle, again should he see the valiant 
soldiers of the South rush on to the cannon's 
mouth, and mount " the imminent deadly breach," 
with their mangled bodies piling high the pedes- 
tal of his fame. And on that memorable field of 
Buena Vista, at that most critical juncture, when 
all seemed lost save honor, again should his heart 
bound with hope as he hailed the approach of the 
noble regiment of Mississippians, and beheld them 
steady, undismayed, (through the very midst of 
the brave but unfortunate troops of the North, 
then, through a mistaken order, discomfited and 
in rout,) with souls untouched by panic, and nerved 
to do or die, march onward — right onward on the 
countless foe, and with invincible prowess snatch 
from the very jaws of death rescue and victory.* 
By such proud memories — by the fame they liave 
won, and the meed of gratitude and honor they 
conferred, I would invoke him to cast now the 
weight of his deserved influence and high position 
on the side of the South, in the scale of right and 
justice. Let him openly rebuke the mad fanati- 
cism and grasping lust of power in the North, 
Let him, as when marching to the relief of his 
comrades at Fort Brown, determine, let foes come 
in what numbers they may, to encounter them, 
and march onward to the rescue of the South and 
her threatened institutions. He will find peace 
has its victories, not less glorious than those of 
war. Let him scatter for ever this cloud of fanat- 
ics, Abolitionists, and Free Soilers, and, so far ^ 
his action may, give defence and security to an 
endangered country. By such course he may 
achieve final adjustment of the sectional agitation 
now rocking the Unipn to its centre, and illus- 
trate his administration with a glory that through 
the vista of time will be surpassed only by that 
of Washington. 

*At this point the liaminer fell. A few sentences have 
been added to give partial oompleteness to the view.j 



LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



liillllillilU 

811 898 408 ^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 898 408 




